The way we were: 69 years ago, an electric commuter plan scrapped 

Torontosun.com
Oct. 7, 2017
By Mike Filey

Radial #414, one of the big, red electric streetcars operated by the North Yonge Railways, pauses before turning off Yonge St. into the southern terminus of its Toronto–Richmond Hill route. (The term "radial" was chosen to identify equipment that operated on routes radiating out from the city.) The city terminus was located opposite Yonge Blvd., a site now partially-occupied by a large Loblaws store. The North Yonge Railway's predecessor, the Toronto and York Radial Railway's Metropolitan Division, was abandoned in March, 1930, after it had connected communities all along Yonge St. as far north as Jackson's Point and Sutton with the big city to the south for almost a half-century.

Four of the communities that it had served agreed to pool their financial resources and at a cost of $67,000, resurrected the southern portion of the line. The new "owners" were the Townships of North York, Markham, Vaughan and the Town of Richmond Hill and together, they "hired" the TTC to operate the line from the city limits only as far as Richmond Hill. This abbreviated service commenced on July 17, 1930, but was to be short lived. And the reason? With the end of the Second World War in the summer of 1945, men were soon back in the city's many factories producing items not available since the beginning of the war. As production rates increased, more electricity became necessary. But because of the war, power-generating equipment hadn't kept pace with this need. House, store and street lighting had to be rationed and frequent brownouts became the norm. In the four "commuter" communities north of the city, one obvious way to save up to 200,000 KWH per month was to replace their "radials" with diesel buses.

Officials agreed and the last of the big red cars rumbled down Yonge St. and into the car house at Yonge and Eglinton at 4:30 in the morning of Oct. 10, 1948. Now, 69 years later (almost to the day), plans are being formulated to return electric transit to Richmond Hill in the form of a 7.4 km. extension to the Yonge subway.

While the TTC has confirmed that the 8.6 km. extension of its Yonge-University-Spadina subway into the City of Vaughan will open to the public in mid-December, transit riders have also been advised that there are another 15 "Top Priority Projects" listed as part of Metrolinx's Regional Transportation Plan. Part of this plan includes the extension of the Yonge subway from the present terminal at Finch station, 7.4 km north to a new terminal in the Town of Richmond Hill. Let me take you back, exactly 69 years, when a somewhat similar electric commuter connection was taken off the books.